Gay Florida police chief fired for promoting officers of color
Larry Scirotto says he'll sue the city of Fort Lauderdale, claiming the officers he promoted were the best qualified for their positions.
A gay police chief in Florida has been fired after only six months on the job after he was accused of favoring minority officers in hiring and promotion decisions.
On March 3, Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom fired former Police Chief Larry Scirotto, 48, following an investigation into complaints that Scirotto had unfairly promoted some officers based on their characteristics rather than merit.
Scirotto, a former assistant chief in Pittsburgh, is of mixed-race background and was the first openly gay chief hired to lead the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. He was brought in at a time when the department was dealing with backlash stemming from several incidents that occurred during protests reacting to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020.
Among those incidents included the deployment of tear gas against protesters, the shoving of a kneeling protester, the shooting of a woman with a rubber bullet, and controversies stemming from the use of facial recognition technology to identify protestors — which critics have said has difficulty making accurate identifications of people of color.
At the time, Scirotto said he wanted to ensure the department fostered better relations with people in the community who have historically had fraught relations with police, a goal many felt was a positive step.
But in the fall, Scirotto promoted a list of minority employees, which led three white officers and one Hispanic officer to file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that he was promoting people in a biased manner.
The subsequent investigation into Scirotto’s actions found that “almost every witness,” out of 21 interviewed, “was dissatisfied” with Scirotto’s approach to promotions and “most believed that Chief Scirotto made clear his intention to promote based on race, gender or sexual orientation.”
“Some believed it was about time changes were made, but stated if promotions were based on things such as race it would even hurt or undermine the people promoted,” the report said.
The investigation report accused Scirotto of saying that photos on a conference room wall were “too white” and vowing: “I’m gonna change that.” It also alleged that, in a separate incident, Scirotto passed over a white man with 20 years tenure in the department for a promotion, instead narrowing the field down to two candidates of color, saying: “Which one is blacker?”
Lagerbloom defended his decision to fire Scirotto, telling The Associated Press: “There’s everything we have to do in the proper way. Again, I go back to the fact that we support a very diverse organization. We serve a very diverse community and that’s important. There are just certain ways that you can do that and do it legally, and other ways that meet that muster.”
Tonja Haddad Coleman, the attorney representing the four officers who filed suit, said her clients were “pleased to see that the city of Fort Lauderdale is taking allegations of discriminatory practices within the department seriously.”
But other community members were disappointed to see Scirotto fired.
“I was really looking forward to the leadership that Chief Scirotto was going to bring,” said Christina Currie, an attorney who used to head the Fort Lauderdale Citizens Investigative Panel. “I think our community was really excited changing the culture of what we had experienced here in our police department.”
Cecil Stone, head of the Fort Lauderdale Black Police Association, said it was “appalling” that the complaints filed against Scirotto attempted to “discredit the promotions of Black and minority officers with masters degrees, stellar reputations, and exemplary work history.”
Speaking to CNN, Scirotto defended his actions on the job while pushing back against some of the allegations against him. He called the report that triggered his termination “vague on the facts” and said it was largely based on hearsay, noting that only six of the 15 people he had promoted were ethnic or gender minorities, and all were selected for promotions based on merit.
“None of them were promoted because they were in a protected class,” he said. “They were promoted because they were the best candidates.”
Scirotto did admit to telling investigators that he was going to “consider diversity at every opportunity,” and that he wanted to be “intentional” in his decision-making process. But he denied asking which candidate was “blacker” when deciding on whom to promote.
He also alleged that the comment on the wall of photos has been taken out of context, saying he was referring to questions about how to convince the Fort Lauderdale community that the police department was “inclusive and diverse” if the police force, and its higher-ranking officers, were overwhelmingly white. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 1 in 3 residents are Black and more than half of all residents are non-white.
Scirotto has obtained legal counsel and is planning on filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city.
“If promoting diversity is the hill I’m going to die on, I will sleep well tonight,” he told CNN. “I won’t allow them to tarnish my reputation. I won’t allow them to tarnish the work that I’ve done in the 24 years I’ve been in this profession.”
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